Women in sports are judged moreby their looks than their athletic ability, a Britishpsychologist sai...

1. Female Athletes Judged By Sex Appeal
Women in sports are judged more
by their looks than their athletic ability, a British
psychologist said on Tuesday.
Tennis stars Mary Pierce and Anna Kournikova are talented
tennis players but Kournikova, who http://www.nj.com/ is judged to be more feminine
than the sportier Pierce, is a more acceptable athlete,
according to Priscilla Choi, of Keele University.
"In this year's Wimbledon [tennis championship] Anna
Kournikova was hailed as one of the best role models for women's
tennis and this is a woman who isn't as good as the Williams
sisters or Mary Pierce," she told the British Association for
the Advancement of Science conference.
Flex Appeal and Sex Appeal
Although Kournikova was defeated in the third round of the
championship and Venus Williams won the title by
defeating her sister Serena in the historic semifinal, Kournikova
was the media darling of the tournament.

2. "Women in sports are still sites to
search at being valued more for what
they
look like than their sports performance
and this is reflected in
recreational exercise," she said.
"It is the more feminine athletes who
also get more
sponsorships."
A survey Choi conducted of
newspapers, women's journals and
health magazines showed that the
looks and the personal lives of
female sports stars dominated media
coverage and there was
little mention of their achievements.
Choi added that society's emphasis on
gender and femininity
have hampered women athletes and
has also spilled into
recreational sport.
"Exercise for women is about looking beautiful. They are
doing it to look good, not for health benefits or to improve
their heart rate," Choi explained.
Encouraging Girls
"This is damaging to women," she said.
Fewer women than men take up an exercise and those that do
often do not continue because of the emphasis on looking good
and their goals are unrealistic.

3. "There should be more focus on women being empowered by
physical exercise than trying to look better," she added.
Choi called for genuine equality in sports at all levels.
She also urged parents to encourage their daughters, as well as
their sons, to exercise and to participate in sports.
"It's where to find search results about choice. If a woman wants to be a bodybuilder she
should be able to do it without worrying whether she is feminine
enough or not. Women who want to take part in physical exericse
should be able to do it without worrrying what they look like,"
she added.